Blog Tour
for
THE FRENCH HOUSE
Author: Helen Fripp
Book: The French House
Publication Day: 04 March 2021
In sleepy little Reims, France, grieving Nicole Clicquot watches
her daughter play amongst the vines under the golden sun and makes a promise to
herself. Her gossiping neighbours insist that the rolling fields of chalk soil
are no place for a woman, but she is determined to make a success of the
winery. It’s the only chance she has to keep a roof over her head and provide a
future for her little girl.
But as the seasons change, bringing a spoiled harvest and bitter grapes, the
vineyards are on the brink of collapse. Without her husband’s oldest friend,
travelling merchant Louis, she’d truly be lost. No one else would stay up
all night to help count endless rows of green bottles deep in the cellars, or
spread word far and wide that Nicole makes the finest champagne he’s ever
tasted. One magical night, as a shooting star illuminates their way under a
velvet sky, Nicole gazes up at his warm smile and wonders if perhaps she
doesn’t need to be quite so alone…
But when Louis shrinks from her touch after returning from a long trip abroad,
Nicole fears something is terribly wrong. And as an old secret about her
husband – that only Louis knew – spreads from the cobbled village streets all
the way to the Paris salons, her heart and fragile reputation are shattered.
Was she wrong to put her trust in another man? And with Napoleon’s wars looming
on the horizon, can she find a way to save her vineyards, and her daughter,
from ruin?
Fans of Chocolat, Carnegie’s Maid, Dinah Jeffries and anyone longing
to sip champagne under the stars will adore this stunning historical read,
inspired by the true story of how Nicole Clicquot blazed her own path to build
the world’s greatest champagne house: Veuve Clicquot.
Purchase Links
Amazon: http://ow.ly/lrWl50DKP8P
Apple: http://ow.ly/z5VC50COWVv
Kobo: http://ow.ly/WhBi50COWRV
Google: http://ow.ly/Bsti50COX0l
Beyond her skill as a wine maker, Madame Clicquot was an astute and ultimately successful business person in a time when women had few rights to property or business. It was also a time of great upheaval and uncertainty across France and Europe due to the Napoleonic Wars.
I think Fripp did a great job of showing readers Nicole Clicquot’s passion and skill for wine making, her love of the vines and vineyards. Fripp also sympathetically portrays the short marriage between Nicole and her husband, François; a man she loved and who continued to influence her even after his death.
I enjoyed reading about Nicole’s efforts to improve her product as well as her struggles with competitors during a time of political instability. Fripp has done her best to offer a complete picture, but I felt this attempt is also a weak point in the narrative because Fripp relies on telling versus showing to fit all the information in.
Overall, I found Fripp’s writing style easy to read. THE FRENCH HOUSE is her debut novel and I look forward to reading her future work.
Helen loves historical fiction, and in her writing, she's
fascinated by the women throughout history who have made their mark against all
the odds. She finds researching the architecture, art and customs of the time
really inspirational, and the tiniest detail can spark an idea for a whole
chapter. Her female characters rail against the social constraints to which
they are subject and often achieve great success, but they are of course flawed
and human, like the rest of us. It's the motivations, flaws, loves and every-day
lives of her characters that she loves to bring life, against sweeping
historical backdrops - and she will find any excuse to take off and research a
captivating location or person for her next story.
Her first novel is set in the Champagne region in France, and she is currently
working on her next one, set in late eighteenth-century Paris. She spent a lot
of time in France as a child, has lived in Paris and spent a year with her
family in a fishing village in South West France, so that's where her books
have ended up being set so far. Who knows where next!
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